Underbelly’s debut wasn’t as popular as TV3’s Comedy Gala the previous week, and didn’t dent the viewership of TV2’s struggling sci-fi show or TV One’s Ocker favourite, but was up on the season finale of time slot predecessor Lie to Me (8.5 rating/23 share).

NZ Herald reviewer Deborah Hill Cone thought the narrative “not as strong as the first two Underbellies, although odd moments of comedy are a relief” and dubbed the cops “cartoonish in their corruption” before concluding: “Underbelly is a fine piece of television and I wish we could do something similar here.”